Baby born premature at 13 ounces to head home from South Florida hospital

Baby born at 26 weeks heads home at 5.1 pounds

MIAMI - One of the tiniest babies born in South Florida is going home, thanks to her parents' dedication and the hard work of doctors at Baptist Children's Hospital.

At 26 weeks, Lailie was born weighing just 13 ounces Aug. 12 at Baptist Children's Hospital.

"She's been through a lot, but she's still here," said Lailie's mother, Jaksiri Ruiz-Toledo. "She's a fighter."

"This baby's main challenge was not so much the prematurity, but the physical size," Dr. Andrew Kairalla said. "Babies at 26 weeks have a very good chance of survival here, but this baby was undergrown due to a lot of complications that mom was having with her pregnancy."

Lailie's dad said he'd never seen a baby so tiny, and he was worried.

"She was so small ... I really didn't know if she was going to make it through the first day," Marcos Ruiz-Toledo said.

The neonatal intensive care unit team at Baptist Children's Hospital spent the last four months caring for Lailie, one of the tiniest babies to beat all odds.

Now, months later, weighing 5.1 pounds, baby Lailie will head home just in time to celebrate the New Year.

"I knew that God was there for us, and I knew that this baby would come out well," Lailie's mom said.